Entrusting someone to manage your care, or that of your loved ones, is a daunting proposition. Navigating the decision making process can also be fraught with emotions. How do you find an agency you are comfortable with and that will provide the best care?

To figure out the right fit for you or your loved one, I recommend that you ask of any prospective agencies the following seven questions:

Are the caregiver W2 Employees of the agency? This means the employees have taxes withheld are the legal responsibility of the agency. Some agencies offer only a “match” of a caregiver but they are 1099 employees putting the full liability on you.

Does the agency carry proper insurance?Ask for a copy of the agencies proof of insurance statement which will show all the lines carried by the agency.

Can you speak with references? Talking with current and past clients will give you a very clear picture of how the agency truly operates.

What is the recruiting and screening process for bringing caregivers on-board? Are the caregivers given full background checks along with calling references?

What is the communication process between the caregiver and the agency staff? Careful and continuous monitoring ensures that appropriate action can be taken to ensure the safety of the client and identify any performance question with the caregiver.

How flexible is the agency? The requirements of care recipients typically change over time, even day-to-day or week-to-week, depending upon needs and the availability of family members.

Will the agency help you plan for possible changes you may face down the road? Staying at home is preferred by many seniors. But what if the situation arises where staying at home is not an option? Will your agency partner up with senior advocates that help find the best alternative to staying at home? Advocates like Mary Meehan at “A Better Choice” who offer a no-fee service to help find the right facility.

To find out if Caring Hands Caregivers is the right agency to provide care for you or your loved one, call me at 408.775.7626 to schedule a free home care assessment.

Most seniors want to remain in their home for as long as they can. As seniors’ age and their memories falter, being able to live in familiar surroundings becomes more and more comforting. A recent California Supreme Court ruling is now making live-in home care unaffordable for all but the wealthiest among us. At Caring Hands Caregivers, we pay and treat our caregivers well, as they are at the core of our care, and our business. However, the California Supreme Court nullified the federal sleep time deduction. With that ruling, we are now required to pay our live-in home care workers overtime rate when they are sleeping.This ruling in Mendiola vs. CPS Security Solutions has significantly increased families’ costs, rendering home care unaffordable for many. When such a substantial payroll burden is being supported entirely by families’ dwindling savings, they often have no choice but to discontinue live-in care. The effects of that kind of change can be traumatic for the entire family, but especially for our senior clients. And if families can't hire us to provide care for their loved ones, our caregivers will be underemployed or even unemployed.

You can help. We urge you to contact your legislator, and urge them to work tirelessly to appeal this ruling. The burden of such a cost is at the expense of seniors and their families trying to do the right thing. Thank you for taking action with us.

Scientists at Stanford have discovered that a protein called C1q, which is known as the initiator of the immune response, is now linked to degenerative brain diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and many others. The full story can be found here.

Having cared for many clients who suffer from these debilitating diseases, we are greatly encouraged by this groundbreaking discovery. Everyone in the family suffers along with the loved ones who are slowly losing their brain function.

At Caring Hands Caregivers, the training of our caregivers is personal to the person they are caring for. We take the time to get to know the person who has the disease and the who they used to be in the prime of their lives. We also get to know the family to get a 360-degree understanding. The more we learn the better able we are to help with the challenges that come with this journey.

As with a lot of policy proposals in the healthcare arena, this one starts with good intentions. However, it is important to realize that the 'companion services' category of jobs, including in-home caregivers, is not a normal 9-to-5 job. Continuity of care is crucial to the elderly, and people with disabilities. In the case of Alzheimer's and dementia sufferers, switching caregivers frequently can add even more confusion to their lives. Join us in asking the Obama administration to keep the 'companion services' exemption in the Fair Labor Standards Act.

While I now call the San Francisco Bay Area home, my original home was in the Midwest. And as they say, you can take a boy from the Midwest, but you can't take the Midwest out of the boy. My upbringing has greatly influenced my values, and the way that we approach managing our caregiver agency.

When I purchased Caring Hands Caregivers six years ago, I had the goal of providing the highest quality of care possible. To do so, you need to make sure that every client is treated like we would treat our family. And while issues inevitably come up, our guiding principles ensure that we react quickly to meet the changing needs of our clients.

With that in mind, we use the following set of values as guiding principles for our business, each and every day:

Integrity-- we are 100% committed to doing the right thing for our clients, our caregivers, and our clients' families. This acts as a guiding principle in our honest and open business practices, in how we work with our caregivers, and how we resolve everyday issues.

Personal Care--as a small, local, family-owned and -operated business, we maintain a limited number of clients to allow for care that is best suited to each client's needs.

Transparency--clear communication and constant access to our team means that you can know exactly how your loved one is being cared for.

Agility--as our clients age, their situations can change very rapidly. When issues arise, we're able to respond quickly to ensure that our quality care is uninterrupted.

Partnership--extraordinary care requires cooperation and communication between our clients, their families, our caregivers, and us. We facilitate that communication, through consistent contact and access to online tools.

Efficiency--We hire career caregivers, many with 5 years or more of experience, so they get up to speed quickly. And our management team brings many years of agency and operational business experience to keep things running smoothly and efficiently.

If someone you love is in need of a caregiver in the Bay Area, feel free to call us at 408.775.7626 to schedule a care options review. That way, you can determine if Caring Hands Caregivers is the right partner to care for your loved one.

Whether traveling to see relatives or just going on a summer vacation, traveling with the seniors in your life can be very rewarding. To prepare, we've come up with a few tips on how to cherish the time you have together.1) Plan thoroughlyWhether going on an outing by car, or on a trip by train or plane, think through the plan for the day, including meal stops, restroom breaks, and rest time2) Research Senior DiscountsWhen planning your itinerary, make sure to book flights using senior discounts. When you arrive, make sure to find restaurants that cater to seniors.3) Allow extra timeNothing creates stress like rushing to catch a train or make a reservation. Make sure to allow more time than you think you need to get ready for each outing.4) Bring a deck of cardsWhen you allow extra time, sometimes you'll have time on your hands. Playing cards are compact, and can allow for multiple people, even from different generations, to engage in the same activity.5) Consolidate travel documentsMake sure that all of the travel documents are organized by date, consolidated, and easy to access in carry-on baggage.6) Pack lightYou may need to help seniors with their bags, so it is especially important that you all pack only what you need.

Much to our dismay, AB241 (a repurposed AB889) is back, and up for a vote. What follows is a rerun of our blog on why we oppose this legislation. We urge Californians to call their assemblymen and women to make sure this does not pass.

When you first glance at AB241 it seems like something you would want to support. Positioned as a 'domestic workers bill of rights', it promises to provide basic workplace rights to in-home workers. But you cannot protect workers who are hired directly by individuals, frequently underpaid, and often paid under the table. AB241 will take the in home care industry underground, rendering domestic workers invisible, thereby more vulnerable to abuse.

If you look a little deeper, you see that AB241 makes two classes of already vulnerable citizens--seniors and domestic workers--more vulnerable to physical, financial, and emotional abuse.The most recent changes to the legislation exempts everyone except the home care agencies. Yet it is the home care agencies that keep seniors and caregivers the safest and most secure. In fact, we hire caregivers out of abusive or potentially abusive situations.

Bad for SeniorsDedicated home care agencies protect seniors by pre-screening candidates, conducting background checks and medical screening, and taking on the employer liability. And with day-to-day management, seniors are given better care, and have more flexibility in making sure that the caregiver that they are working with is the best person to care for them.

AB241 could force us to provide multiple caregivers per live-in client, making staying at home too cost prohibitive. Far fewer seniors will be able to remain in their own home as they require care. Also, imagine an older person living with Alzheimers having to have multiple shift changes every day. That would make an already confusing situation more overwhelming.

Bad for Domestic WorkersHome care agencies pay a fair, dependable wage, cover workers compensation, provide training, and create a safe working environment for domestic workers. If a caregiver is not being treated well, it is the home care agency that takes care of them. If this bill passes, the home care industry will go underground, and domestic workers will provide care directly with no protection, no oversight, no one checking in to see how they are fairing. Instead of preventing abuse, this creates a situation that is ripe for abuse.

Please join us in opposing AB241. Let your State Senators know that you want to keep seniors and domestic workers safe, secure, and well cared for.

As Linda Bernstein mentioned in her article, 8 Things Not to Say to Your Aging Parents, dealing with aging parents as their memory fades can prove frustrating. Despite our best efforts, we sometimes lose patience while listening to the same stories over and over, trying to track when conversations 'go rogue', and teaching the same skills repeatedly.

Here are a few tips that we've learned, while caring for older adults, for how to handle these situations in a loving and compassionate way.

When hearing the same story for the umpteenth timeSay "I remember you saying that before, which lead to..." This lets them know that you've listened to them, and allows them to leap forward and add additional details or a relevant connection to the current conversation.

When teaching a technology skillInstead of just showing the skill once, create a document with screen shots that can be referred back to when your parent attempts the task on their own.

When reminding about a name or elusive wordAsk them for a description instead of the exact word or name. Often, they can come up with "Edith's son", but not the name. Or, they can come up with the usage of a spatula, for example, but not the label.

I hope that these suggestions help you to turn your best intentions into reality when dealing with your aging parents.

Given a choice, the vast majority of seniors would rather spend their Golden Years in the comfort of their own homes. And while some seniors need to have live-in care in order to remain at home, many seniors are more self-sufficient, and just need a little bit of help during crucial periods of the day or evening.

Bay Area seniors can now get the benefits of Assisted Living while staying in their own home. If you or your loved one needs help with a particular every-day task--such as dressing, bathing, doing errands, at mealtime, or preparing for bed--you can get that help, in as little as 30-minute increments.

We are currently offering this In Home Assisted Living service in many parts of the San Francisco Bay Area. To find out if this service is available near you, call us at 408.775.7626.